HARRISBURG -- The state has agreed to a nearly $49 million settlement with the federal government to resolve claims that it improperly paid public benefits to people who were ineligible between 2004 and 2010, according to a copy of the agreement. The state must repay $48.8 million using non-federal funds beginning in March, and can pay the money back over a five-year period. The state is not admitting any liability by the repayment agreement. The benefits at issue were allegedly provided under Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program -- commonly known as food stamps -- and the cash benefit program Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. The federal government alleges...

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HARRISBURG -- The state has agreed to a nearly $49 million settlement with the federal government to resolve claims that it improperly paid public benefits to people who were ineligible between 2004 and 2010, according to a copy of the agreement.The state...

Being poor or homeless should not keep someone from having a cellphone, especially if they need emergency help during the winter months.That's the idea behind Shelly Tharp's efforts to distribute free phones under the Lifeline program, as well as...

— Federal spending in Pennsylvania totaled $135 billion last year, a figure that has grown by half over the last decade, according to data from the Pew Charitable Trusts.
Researchers tallied five categories of federal spending — retirement benefits,...

James George Douris once told a Bucks County Court judge that his physical disabilities prevented him from retrieving court papers left on his front door, authorities say.Now, he'll have to explain how he managed to use his leaf blower while standing on...

Open enrollment begins Monday for the health care program that Gov. Tom Corbett created and Gov.-elect Tom Wolf promises to dismantle.
What that will mean for those who enroll in the program, called Healthy PA, is not clear. The program could extend...

Our president seems to be more out of touch than ever, witnessed by his recent glowing evaluation of our economy. Average income is down once again. Food prices are climbing weekly. Fuel costs are significantly higher than when he took office. There are...

Northampton County employees had a message for their employer: They do not want to pay more for their health insurance. It was a message they expressed passionately and repeatedly at Thursday night's county council meeting.
During a meeting so crowded...

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Corbett said, "I know you all wanted to get together after the primary election and talk about our strategy. Winn, let's start with your assessment. Then I have a surprise for...

Nixon without Watergate; it's like Beethoven without music or "The Godfather" without violence.Yet there was a lot more to the five and half years of Richard Nixon's presidency. That record, ironically, is largely painful for the conservatives...

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The Democrats have little say in the agenda of the Republican-run House, and no dispassionate expert predicts the party will win control in the November elections. More likely is a Republican House majority for at least three or four more elections.That...

In Sunday's Morning Call, we read "A Living Wage?" about how Sasha and Samuel Rivera of Allentown rely on food stamps because their full-time jobs don't provide an adequate living wage. Meanwhile, we have a GOP-led House refusing to consider...

From its distinguished alumni — CEOs, well-known authors, professional actors — to its enviable test scores and championship sports teams, the Parkland School District glows with an aura of affluence and privilege.
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The May 3 column on panhandlers drew some interesting responses, including South Whitehall Township resident Everette Carr's observation that, though I dispensed advice from experts on how to deal with homeless people begging at the roadside, one of that colum

I took U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent to task the other day for being on the wrong side of the debate over whether the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program -- once known as food stamps -- should be cut. Dent voted with ...

Democrat Bob Casey took to the Senate floor Monday night to implore his colleagues to pass his legislation to extend and increase payroll tax cuts for working Americans with a slightly altered version that eliminates Casey's first bill's tax cuts ...

Signaling how seriously his campaign intends to take the April 24 Pennsylvania primary, Mitt Romney spent more than 30 minutes on the phone with Pennsylvania Republican voters Wednesday evening.His campaign has also opened a headquarters in Harrisburg....

Good Tuesday Morning, Fellow Seekers. Rep. Bill DeWeese's public corruption trial in Dauphin County Court yesterday, where prosecutors from the state Attorney General's Office engaged in the time-honored opening argument rite of stripping a defendant's reputat